Friday, December 18, 2009

A cell happens to be the smallest unit of life, but there's a tremendous amount of activity going on within this very fascinating place. The talented people at the National Science Foundation (NSF) are well aware of this fact, and they have created this illuminating and interactive visual feature to help people learn about the cell's different components. On the homepage, visitors are presented with a clickable illustration of the cell's primary components, including the nucleus, the cell membrane, and mitochondria. Clicking on any of these various items brings up a detailed illustration, complete with a brief description of its function. Finally, visitors can also view the complete illustration by clicking on the "Full Illustration" link. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

The U.S. National Library of Medicine's Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program and the U.S. Society of Toxicology have teamed up to create ToxLearn which is an interactive multi-module learning tool. The purpose of this tool is to provide an introduction to fundamental toxicological principles and concepts, and it does not require any knowledge beyond a basic understanding of biology and chemistry. First-time visitors can click on the "Overview" area to learn more about the modules, which can also be used as an ancillary curriculum to an undergraduate level toxicology course. There are three modules in the course, and while only one is currently available in its entirety, the other two will be added shortly. Each of the modules contains a series of slides and text passages, along with a link to a glossary. This is a tremendous resource, and medical educational professionals and others will find it invaluable. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Friday, December 11, 2009

This interactive website from the Getty Museum feels almost like a game that teaches players to distinguish the work of the master, Rembrandt, from that of his pupils. Pairs of drawings are presented for viewers to compare, for example, Rembrandt's Daniel in the Lions' Den, 1649, is matched with a drawing of the same subject by Constantijn Daniel van Renesse. Viewers can zoom in or out, for closer examination of the works, and expand and collapse item information. There is even a cheater's button, titled "show point of interest", that will reveal the major differences between the drawings. Clicking this button for the Daniel pair brings up the differing details - the master depicts the lions as ferocious beasts with open jaws and shaggy manes, while the pupil's animals are smaller and less menacing and are drawn with "regular, even" lines. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Brecht's Works in English: A Bibliography [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/BrechtGuide/] - In the United States, Bertolt Brecht is perhaps best known as the composer of the Threepenny Opera with Kurt Weill, which gave birth to the popular song known in English as "Mack the Knife". He is generally regarded as a tremendously prolific playwright, poet, and theatre director, and his works have been translated into a host of different productions and settings during the 20th and 21st centuries. This bibliography of Brecht's works in English contains over 2600 bibliographical entries and is a cooperative project between the International Brecht Society and the Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv in Berlin. The bibliography is hosted by the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections, though it should be noted that the database is not a record of the holdings of the University of Wisconsin Libraries. Visitors can scan down the homepage to access specific citation sets for Brecht's journals, essays, interviews, letters, plays, poems, and songs. The site is rounded out by a list of links to related materials, including the German Studies collection at the University of Wisconsin and the International Brecht Society. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Monday, November 16, 2009

This small show from MoMA showcases the work of 10 artists: Bas Jan Ader, Allen Ruppersberg, Jan Dibbets, Gilbert & George, Stanley Brouwn, Hanne Darboven, Lawrence Weiner, Charlotte Posenenske, Ger van Elk, and Sol LeWitt. The exhibit is, in the words of a recent review "odd, offbeat and often thrillingly intelligent." The show captures the essence of the art scene in Amsterdam from 1960-1976, when many avant-garde artists from Holland, the rest of Europe, and the United States congregated there. Several of the works in the exhibition are performance-based, such as Ger van Elk's Paul Klee—Um den Fisch, 1926 (Around the Fish), a set of 8 slides projected on a table, showing the artist eating a fish similar to the one in Klee's more well-known painting (only one frame is shown in the web exhibition). Other works also comment on the fleetingness of time, such as Jan Dibbets' The Shortest Day at my House in Amsterdam, 80 color prints taken at eight-minute intervals between dawn and dusk on the winter solstice in 1970; or Hanne Darboven's 100 Books 00–99, 100 open books, each representing a year in a century, arranged face up on a table. [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

A portion of the Langston Hughes Papers are available here on Yale University’s Digital Library site. Hughes' complete papers (1862-1980) are comprised of "letters, manuscripts, personal items, photographs, clippings, artworks, and objects" and are available at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. For the digitized collection, visitors should click on the "See All Images" option on the left hand side of the page to view the nine pages of thumbnail images. Each thumbnail image can be expanded so that visitors can view each image in detail. Each document can also be saved, by clicking "Save" above the thumbnail. The saved images are then moved to a folder that can hold saved images to be ordered, or just viewed again. The folder is called "My Group", and can be found below the pink menu near the top of the page. Visitors shouldn't miss the beautiful poem entitled "For A'lelia" that Hughes wrote for A'Lelia Walker after she died in 1931, and which was subsequently read at her funeral. It can be found in the second row of images, in the first spot, when "See All Images" is selected on the homepage. [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

Noted editor and literary critic Margaret Anderson once referred to the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven as "perhaps the only figure of our generation who deserves the epithet extraordinary." The future Baroness was born Else Hildegard Ploetz in 1874 and she came to the United States in 1910. After her husband committed suicide, Else become a part of the Greenwich Village artist milieu, where she began her productive, albeit brief, writing career. The twelve texts offered here by the University of Maryland are related through their themes (which include an interest in emerging scientific technologies) and their publication within "little" magazines. Visitors can get a sense of the background behind the project by reading the “Introduction”, and then moving on to look through some of the works. What is perhaps most compelling about the site is that visitors can make their way through various drafts of each work, along with commentary and other germane details. [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

The letters written by Vincent Van Gogh have appeared many times before, but this is the first time they have appeared as part of a complete digital edition. This fascinating collection was created by the Van Gogh Museum and the Huygens Institute, and the letters were edited by Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nineke Bakker. On the site, visitors can view 902 letters from and to Van Gogh, complete with detailed annotations and illustrations from the master himself. First-time visitors should definitely click on the "Quick Guide" to get an overview of the site’s holdings, and then they should also take a look at the sections "Van Gogh as a letter-writer", "Correspondents", "Biographical & historical context", and "Publication History". The letters include those from many of his contemporaries, including Paul Gauguin, and of course, those lovely pieces of writing from his brother, Theo. Users can also use the search engine here to look around by keyword. Finally, visitors can also look through the "About this Edition" area to learn about the reading texts included here, the translations, and the annotations. [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

It can be a real challenge to learn about the foibles and details of lab work, so it is nice to report that Dr. Stephanie Dellis has created this excellent Virtual Lab Book for students beginning the study of molecular biology. The guide is divided into twelve parts, including "Safety in the Molecular Biology Lab", "Minipreparation of Plasmid DNA", and "PCR and Thermacycling". Along with written instructions and particulars, each section also contains a number of helpful diagrams and visual illustrations. Visitors will also want to look at the specialized lab protocols included here, such as "How to Spread a Plate" and "DNA Isolation". [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online is frequently updated, and is maintained by the United States Department of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The site offers over 1000 tables of data from over 100 sources. An interesting and multi-perspective approach to measuring the level of crime can be found in section number three, which is titled "Crime, Victims", and it resides on the left hand side of the homepage. It offers statistics about the frequency of various crimes by presenting data from victimization surveys, and officially recorded offenses. Visitors interested in printing the text, tables, or both, of each section, can download them via a link in each section that immediately precedes the list of the topics of that section. The "Archive" link in the menu across the top of the page, allows visitors to download complete editions of the Sourcebook, going back to 1994. Each section of the books can be downloaded separately, or the entire book for that year can be downloaded as a zip file.[>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Profiles in Science: The Paul Berg Papers[http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/CD/] - Nobel Prize-recipient Paul Berg has made major contributions to the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology for fifty years. This Profiles in Science feature from the National Library of Health contains biographical information on Berg, along with correspondence, laboratory notebooks, portraits, legislative records, reports, and articles related to his work and times. Visitors can start their visit within the site by reading his extended biography, which is divided chronologically into areas like "Protein Synthesis, Tumor Viruses, and Recombinant DNA, 1959-1975". The documents themselves offer a variety of insights into Berg's career, his interactions with other scholars, and the milieu of this type of scientific research over the second half of the twentieth century. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

The Biology Project: The Chemistry of Amino Acids [http://www.biology.arizona.edu/biochemistry/problem_sets/aa/aa.html] - The Biology Project at the University of Arizona doesn't shy away from the big (or little) questions of life and science, and this helpful educational resource will be another educational arrow in the quiver of science educators from Seattle to Tashkent. The site provides a basic introduction to amino acids, offering a brief description of their role as the "building blocks" of protein. After reading the introduction, students can learn about the structure of amino acids, and then take on a few exercises in the "Test yourself" section of the site. Of course, that's not all, as visitors can also learn about each amino acid separately, and there's even a handy legend that makes learning that much easier. [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Created as part of an interdisciplinary international effort to take a critical look at the phenomenon of mass violence, the Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence is supported by a number of organizations, including The Center for International Research and Studies and The Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah. The primary purpose of the Encyclopedia Project is "to create a regularly updated electronic database focusing on massacres and genocides of the 20th century." First-time visitors can use the interactive map of the world on the homepage to begin their exploration of the site. Within each region of the world (and by extension, each individual country), visitors can read chronological indexes, case studies, and take a look at scholarly reviews of works related to each region or country's genocides or massacres. Visitors should not miss the "Latest contributions" area, which includes the latest works from the Project. Recently featured items here have included an evaluation of The Boxer Uprising and the Burundi Killings of 1972. Overall, it's a very ambitious project, and one that scholars and members of the general public will want to check up on from time to time.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Drawing on a wide range of subject expertise, the Wisconsin Online Resource Center (Wisc-Online) is a digital library of web-based learning resources known as "learning objects". "Learning objects" are essentially self-contained small chunks of learning that can be embedded in a learning activity, lesson, unit or course. The site includes over 2170 of these objects, and new objects are being developed continuously. Visitors will need to complete a short registration form before they are allowed to access all of the materials on the site, but they can certainly get a sense of what the site includes by checking out the "New Learning Objects" area. Here they will find everything from animated presentations showing how the pH level of a cleaning solution is controlled to an interactive activity on industrial automation. Also, visitors are also encouraged to sign up to receive their RSS feed. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Every citizen of the United States (and anyone else with an interest in politics) should take a close look at the MAPLight.org website. This rather innovative database brings together three unique data sets including bill texts, legislative voting records, and supporting and opposing interests for each bill. This data allows users to determine the contributions given by interests supporting and opposing each bill and the average donations given to legislators voting "Yes" and "No" on each bill. Currently, MAPLight.org covers the California Legislature and the U.S. Congress and first-time visitors may wish to start by watching the six-minute introductory video which explains all of the bells and whistles on the site. After that, visitors can click on either the "California" or the "U.S. Congress" sections of the site to learn about current voting patterns related to interest groups (such as teachers unions and the health insurance industry), legislators, and pending bills. Moving on, the site also offers up a presidential money race widget that can be customized in a variety of ways. Visitors may also wish to sign up to receive email updates and they are also welcome to send along feedback. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

The movement of Christian missionaries across the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is perhaps one of the most studied aspects of religious history in recent times. This very engrossing online digital collection brings together over 10,000 photographs culled from various missionary photographers. The Internet Mission Photography Archive (IMPA) is based at the University of Southern California and includes photographs from the collections of the Moravian Church, the Leipzig Mission, the Norwegian Missionary Society, and three other organizations. In this collection, visitors can view churches, school buildings, mission teachings, religious practices, and a constellation of subjects and themes. Users can browse around at their leisure, create their own dedicated collection, and also search the archive by words, contributing organization, and country. Religious historians, photographers, and others will certainly want to visit this collection several times. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Signed into law on July 1, 1968, the historic Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) was a major step towards creating a world that had the potential to be a bit safer from the threat of nuclear annihilation. This particular collection of documents related to the NPT was brought together through the diligence of staff members at the National Security Archive's Nuclear Documentation Project and released to the public in July 2008. The site starts off with a narrative essay which describes the backdrop to the signing of the NPT in 1968, along with offering a bit of additional context about the international political climate at the time. The site's real gems are the 34 documents which include State Department cables, internal planning documents, and other items that reveal the nature of the political machinations involved with this process. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

The website of the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University offers visitors to its site a digital feast of images of East Africa from 1860-1960. A portion of the Winterton Collection of East African photographs, acquired by the library at the end of 2002, has already been digitized, and the entire collection of photographs has been inventoried and is available in a PDF document, under the Inventory tab. The photographs currently available on the website are divided into album views and individual sample images from the collection. The sample images are a mixture of landscapes and portraits, both formal and informal. By clicking on a photograph, a visitor can see a larger image of the photograph, as well as a caption that includes a date, location, and description, if known. The album view, with its black background and white text, extremely high quality image scans, and excellent organization makes it easy to navigate and enjoy. The photographs were scanned directly from the albums' pages, so a visitor almost feels as if they are paging through the physical albums. The photographs' original captions are legible in the albums when the photograph is magnified, but are also reprinted underneath the albums, with no zooming required.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Not enough people know about the world of musculoskeletal radiology, but this site can address some of those glaring gaps in medical and physiological knowledge. Created by Doctor Michael Richardson at the University of Washington, this online muscle atlas covers the lower and upper extremity, and is primarily designed for use by health science professionals. The site also includes some teaching and instructional materials related to radiology. Visitors will note that the site contains a table of contents, and all of the major muscles are listed alphabetically, from the Adductor Brevis to the Vastus Medialis. Additionally, for each muscle, visitors can view a high-quality image of the related muscle groups and the function of each muscle in question. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Changing Times: Los Angeles in Photographs, 1920-1990 [http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/dlib/lat/] - From Raymond Chandler's hardboiled gumshoes to the decline and fall of the city's streetcar system, the City of Angels underwent a dramatic transformation from 1920 to 1990. This remarkable digital archive offered by the UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections brings together over 5700 photographs from that period. Culled from the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News photographic archives of 3 million photographs, this collection covers topics that include religion, popular culture, urban development, law enforcement, and the entertainment industry. Visitors can browse through a list of subjects or search for specific items of interest by keyword. To get started, visitors may wish to search for "Bud Abbott", "Oil Wells", and "Urban renewal". >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

In the 19th century, Americans flocked to periodicals in a fashion that would have been almost unimaginable a few decades earlier. They had many to choose from, including Atlantic Monthly, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Scientific American, and the American Missionary. This rather fine collection brings select issues from these magazines (and nineteen others) together in one place, courtesy of the American Memory project at the Library of Congress and the Cornell University Library. Visitors to the site can search through the entire archive, or just browse through individual periodicals at their leisure. Some of the articles reflect popular pursuits of the day, but others take on more weighty matters, such as the November 1884 issue of the "New Englander and Yale Review", which offers up pieces like "An Analysis of Consciousness in its Relation to Eschatology" and "Virtue, from a Scientific Standpoint". Finally, visitors should not miss the project's special presentation, found near the bottom of the homepage, which provides historical background and essays on the periodical "Garden and Forest". >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Born in Virginia in 1873, Willa Cather's family moved to Nebraska at age 10. She would later attend the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and would of course share her vision of the Great Plains in novels like "O Pioneers!" and "My Antonia". In 1997, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln began a very ambitious project to digitize hundreds of Cather-authored texts and Cather scholarship for this excellent website. Currently, this collection includes digital transcriptions of five Cather books, all of her short fiction from before 1912, the complete run of "Cather Studies", multiple biographies, and several virtual tours of Cather-related locales. These materials can be located by using the search engine offered here or by clicking around sections that include "Writings", "Letters", "Life", "Gallery", and "Multimedia". Overall, it's a tremendous site, and one that merits a number of return visits. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

During August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi government played host to the Summer Olympics and many international observers and commentators wondered whether the United States might elect to boycott the Games entirely. They did not, and the triumphs of runner extraordinaire Jesse Owens were a highlight of those rather dark times in Germany. This engaging online exhibit on the Summer Games of 1936 was created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to complement a recent in situ exhibit at their headquarters in Washington, D.C. Visitors can make their way through sections that include "Germany", "Sports", "Boycott", "To Berlin", and "The Aftermath". Each section contains brief essays on each subject, nicely complemented by period photographs, digitized documents, and other items of historical importance. Visitors should not miss the "Boycott" section, as it contains first-hand recollections from various athletes on the situation in Berlin, including the perspective of Jesse Owens. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

In 1927, Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed for the armed robbery of two pay-clerks in South Braintree, Massachusetts in 1920. Their case became a cause celebre across the world, as many felt that their trial was prejudiced by the prevailing anti-immigrant and anti-anarchist sentiment of the time. This collection of documents related to their trial is offered as part of the "Famous Trials" site created by Professor Douglas Linder at the University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law. Visitors to the site can view a chronology of events, maps, biographies of the trial participants, and statements from the sentencing phase of the trial. Additionally, visitors can also read letters written from Sacco and Vanzetti during their incarceration and also look over a selection of images from their trial. The site is rounded out by a thorough bibliography and a short collection of additional websites. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Under the headline "Art. History. Conversation.", Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker started the Smarthistory site in 2005 as a weblog that featured free audio guides. Since that time, the site as grown into a multimedia web-book "designed as a dynamic enhancement (or even substitute) for the traditional and static art history textbook." Visitors to the site will find several hundred artworks (along with videos and podcasts) organized thematically and by time period. Additionally, visitors can also use the drop down menus on the homepage to look for certain styles, artists, and themes that include "Image and Power", "The Artist as Professional", and "Bronze Casting". The videos are a real treat, and they include offerings like "Magritte's treacherous pipe" and "Mies's corporate classicism". >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

The lyricism and social consciousness of hip-hop music has been a source of inspiration for many artists working in photography, painting, film, and even contemporary multimedia projects. Recently, the National Portrait Gallery decided to create an exhibit that would explore some of these relationships and exchanges, and this website offers a taste of what visitors will find at the actual exhibition space. First-time visitors to the site can click on over to one of the main themes on the right-hand side of the homepage. Actually, the "Photography" area is a great place to start, and visitors can listen to an interview with photographer David Scheinbaum about his work and artistic vision. After that, visitors can look over a sampling of his images, which include concert photos of Gang Starr, Mos Def, and KRS-ONE. Moving on, the "Painting" area features the work of Kehinde Wiley, who is known for his large and vibrantly-colored paintings of young African American men. Some of the works featured here include portraits of Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, and Ice T. Overall, it's an interesting collection, and one that allows the National Portrait Gallery to break out into new territory. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Friday, April 3, 2009

Making a clear and direct path through the vast amount of Congressional materials can be quite a chore, even for the most seasoned and experienced researcher. Fortunately, the University of California at Berkeley Library has created these fine Congressional tutorials. Designed to help users locate materials both online and in the library, these tutorials are in the form of short Flash-enabled videos. Most of the tutorials last about two minutes, and they include "Find a Bill", "How Do I Contact My Representative?", "Find Congressional Debate", and "Find a Hearing". After viewing one (or more) of these tutorials, users can also make their way to the "What's going on in Congress right now?" area to stay on top of the various activities of this important legislative body.

Stem Cells at the National Academies [http://dels.nas.edu/bls/stemcells/] - Stem cells continue to make news headlines on a daily basis, and for research scientists, journalists, and members of the general public, it's important to have access about developments in the field. One particularly fine resource is available on this site provided by the National Academies. Educators and the generally curious may wish to start exploring the site by clicking on the "Stem Cell Basics" area. Here they can download the booklet "Understanding Stem Cells", or just peruse the interactive online version. Moving on, visitors can then look at the amended document titled "Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research", which was first published in 2005, and then amended in 2007. Interested parties can also submit their own comments on these guidelines directly via an email link on the site. Finally, visitors can also sign up for email updates and look at the "Reports" area, which includes six substantive reports dating back to 2002

Cholera Online: A Modern Pandemic in Texts and Images[http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/cholera/index.html] - Cholera is a disease which can spread quickly and it has certainly presented some tremendous challenges for public health officials and experts in recent times. This fascinating online collection brings together 221 English language monographs dating from 1817 to 1900 which deal with the cholera epidemics of that period. This project was undertaken by the National Library of Medicine, and the selection of documents was informed and inspired by the 315-page "Bibliography of Cholera" compiled by John Shaw Billings in 1875. First-time visitors would do well to start by reading the "Introduction" section before jumping in to the remainder of the site. After that, visitors can click on the "Read the Books" section to peruse the offerings by author, subject, date, and even location. The "Images" area is even better, as visitors can take in images organized by such thoughtful themes as "Social Commentary", Patients and Victims", and "Urban Outbreaks and Hygiene". >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The Virtual Body[http://www.medtropolis.com/vbody.asp] - Unless one is a medical resident, it can be quite difficult to get a close-up look at a skeleton, a brain, or even the inner workings of the digestive tract. Students of the medical sciences and others need worry no more, as this very fine interactive exhibit offers up dynamic images and cross-sections of these parts of the anatomy and many more to boot. The site contains four sections, including "Brain", "Skeleton", "Heart", and "Digestive Tract". In the "Heart" area, visitors can learn about the individual parts of the heart, view an animated heart, and also take a narrated tour of the heart that will "keep your heart beating." Moving on, the "Skeleton" section features the "Bones Narrated" tour, which will take visitors on a guided tour of the skeleton and its functions. For those who like to keep things interactive, there is also the "Build a Skeleton" feature that will test their knowledge of the human skeleton. Additionally, the "Digestive Tract" area includes a test of organ organization and a trip through the duodenum and other parts of the digestive system. It's worth noting that the entire site is also available in Spanish. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

American Geographical Society Digital Photo Archive[http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/digilib/agsphoto/index.html] - The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee has rolled out a number of fine digital collections over the past few years that have covered everything from Golda Meir to the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. This latest addition provides access to over 2000 photographs from the American Geographical Society Library (AGSL). The current collection is primarily focused on countries in Asia and the Middle East, and they hope to expand their collection in the near future to include additional regions of the world. Visitors to the site can search the collection by country, city, or search term of their choice. Highlights of the archive include some remarkable photographs of the waterfront in Alexandria, the markets of Bangkok, and photographs of the city of Kathmandu. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

National Institute on Aging[http://www.nia.nih.gov/] - The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is the research arm of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) that focuses on aging research. Their website is geared both toward researchers and laypeople, particularly seniors. Visitors can click on the links, such as "Publications", "Alzheimer's Disease Information" and "Clinical Trials" next to the "Health Information" heading, on the right side of the homepage. For a brief description of what the links are about, visitors can click on the "Health Information" heading to be taken to the links and their descriptions. The "Clinical Trials" link would be of interest to those seniors who have particular medical conditions that may be being studied by the NIH. To see the numerous publications the NIA has available to order or download free, visitors can click on the "Publications" link on the homepage to browse the categories of publications available, including, "Caregiving", "Conditions & Diseases", "Medications/Supplements" and "Safety". Spanish language versions of the publications, can be found by simply clicking on "Spanish Language Materials" in the same section. For researchers, the "Research Information" heading on the right side of the page leads to the descriptions of the links that are also featured in the middle of the homepage. Two links that are concerned with current research are "Research Conducted at NIA" and "NIA Sponsored Research". >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Japanese Fine Prints, Pre-1915[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/jpdhtml/jpdabt.html] - The online division of Prints and Photographs from the Library of Congress has digitized approximately 70% of their more than 2500 Japanese woodblock prints and drawings that date from the 17th-20th centuries. For visitors interested in accessing some of the collection that has yet to be digitized, click on the link "Access to Unprocessed Materials" located at the top of the homepage. To become familiar with the print traditions in Japanese art, visitors should click on the link in the middle of the page, entitled "Background and Scope". To view examples of some of the types of subjects in the prints, visitors can click on "View Examples" next to the various subjects, such as actors, women, landscapes, scenes from Japanese literature, daily life, and views of Western foreigners. To access descriptions of these prints, visitors can click on the links in the middle of the page, with the aforementioned titles, or scroll down to the bottom of the page to read them. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Freedom House: Freedom of the Press[http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=16] - Advocacy, action, and analysis are the tenets of Freedom House, a democracy organization founded in 1941 in the United States. Their website is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, Korean, Russian and Spanish, and is loaded with analysis.One of the focuses of Freedom House is to monitor the freedom of the press available in countries around the world. Each year they publish a survey of 194 countries' degree of free press.

The report includes country scores, draft reports, an overview essay, and methodology employed in gathering the data for the survey. To view any of the editions from 2002-2008 simply click on the drop down menu "Select a Year" next to Edition, near the top of the homepage. Once visitors have selected a year, an interactive, downloadable map will appear, allowing the visitor to choose a region on the map, and then choose any of the countries in the region. A press-oriented biography of the country is given, along with how the country scored in various measures of general freedom. Links to such information as "Methodology", "Survey Team", "Tables & Charts", and "Essays" are accessible at the top of the page once a visitor chooses a country to explore. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Friday, March 6, 2009

Contagion: Historical Views of Disease and Epidemics [ http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/] - With this rather remarkable collection, the dedicated staff members at Harvard University Library's Open Collections Program have brought together Philadelphia's yellow fever epidemic of 1793, London's Great Plague of 1665, and six other notable epidemics from world history. The collection provides general background information on diseases and epidemics worldwide, and as previously suggested, is organized around significant "episodes" of such diseases. Visitors to the collection will find historical pamphlets, serials, books, and manuscripts totaling over 500,000 pages. The "General Materials" area is worth a look as it provides access to brief overviews of important concepts such as germ theory, public health, vaccination, medical geography, and humoral theory. Overall, it's a tremendous set of offerings, and visitors with a penchant for the history of medicine, public health, or diseases will find that this site is well worth many visits. Also, visitors can share resources on the site via Google Bookmarks and Facebook. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Writings of Thomas Wentworth Higginson [http://libtextcenter.unl.edu/higginson/] - During his long life, Thomas Wentworth Higginson was an outspoken critic of slavery, military conflicts, and many other issues that dominated conversation in 19th century America. Higginson was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1823 and after attending Harvard Divinity School he became a Unitarian minister. Over the course of the next five decades, Higginson would find time to play a leadership role in the women's movement and speak out against the fugitive slave act. This particular digital collection from the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln contains some of Higginson's correspondence, along with a selection of his other writings. These writings include "Does Slavery Christianize the Negro?", "Massachusetts in Mourning", and "The Results of Spiritualism". Visitors can also browse a topical list which will guide them to specific writings that address the Civil War, John Brown, Kansas, and the Woman's Suffrage Association along with many other fascinating topics. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students [http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu/] - Crafting meaningful and articulate lab presentations and correspondence can be difficult for anyone, including engineers and other scientists. This particular set of resources is deigned to teach engineering and science students about creating and writing materials such as resumes, formal laboratory reports, presentation slides, and so on. The guidelines are gathered into several different sections, including "Introduction", "Presentations", "Correspondence", and "Formal Reports". There is material for instructors here as well, and the offerings include pieces on the design of writing assignments, the interactive teaching of writing, and the evaluation of writing assignments. Finally, the site also contains a number of writing exercises on grammar, punctuation, and word usage. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Legacy: Spain and the United States in the Age of Independence 1763-1848[http://latino.si.edu/SpainLegacy/Archive/index.html] - During the eighty-five year period after the 1763 Treaty of Paris, Great Britain, Spain, France, Native Americans, and the young American republic engaged in a number of conflicts, alliances, and battles on the North American continent. Drawing on primary source materials from the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and numerous other organizations, this delightful exhibit looks at the crucial Spanish contributions to the American cause during the Revolutionary War and the presence and influence of Hispanic culture in Florida, Louisiana, California, and the Southwest. Visitors can begin their exploration through the site by clicking through the five primary sections, which include "War of Independence" and "Spain in the American Imagination". Upon arriving at each section, visitors will be presented with an interactive "wall" of portraits, maps, treaties, and other items of historical ephemera. Additionally, the site also includes an interactive catalogue and a map. Needless to say, the site's materials are also available in Spanish. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Art and Literature in Siena, 1250-1600 [http://www.leeds.ac.uk/italian/research/sienalecturesvideo.htm] - Located in the hills of Tuscany, the city of Siena was a buzzing hive of cultural activity from the 13th to 16th century. At the heart of the city was the University of Siena, founded in 1203, and scholars and others flocked to hear lectures on law and medicine. Of course, the city also had its famed Duomo, which is one of the premier examples of Italian Romanesque architecture. Recently, the University of Leeds placed four lectures online that deal with the art and literature of Siena, and visitors will be delighted to listen to them as they see fit. They include "The City as a Work of Art: Making and Meaning in the Italian Renaissance", "Duccio and the Flowering of Sienese Art", "Theater in Renaissance Siena", and "Art, Power and Patronage in Renaissance Siena". >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Studies in the History of Ethics[http://www.historyofethics.org/] - Started in 2005, Studies in the History of Ethics is a peer-reviewed electronic journal and research portal focused on publishing articles and reviews which deal with the history of ethics. First-time visitors can use the homepage to look over more recent works, such as a symposium on the ethics of John Stuart Mill which includes pieces from scholars at the University of Utah and the National University of Singapore. Further down the page, users can also read up on the journal's calls for works to be included in future symposia. Moving on, visitors can click on the "Archives" section to read past pieces published online and they can also use an embedded search engine to look for specific works. The site is rounded out by an RSS feed and contact information for the journal's editors. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Images of the Antislavery Movement in Massachusetts [http://www.masshist.org/online/abolition.cfm] - The state of Massachusetts played a major role in the American antislavery movement, and for a number of decades, the epicenter of this movement was in Boston. The Massachusetts Historical Society created this website in order to highlight some of the visual materials from their collection that deal with this facet of American history. Visitors to the site can look over digital images of 840 items, which include paintings, sculptures, banners, and broadsides. Items featured within this archive include formal portraits of noted lawyer Wendell Phillips, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and Senator Charles Sumner. Additionally, visitors can also view a ticket to the 1857 Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society speech and a diagram of a plan for resisting the fugitive slave law. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

University of Wollongong: Statistical Literacy[http://www.uow.edu.au/student/attributes/statlit/] - Statistics surround us in the form of polling reports, census data, and the other seemingly mundane details of life. This site created by the University of Wollongong offers up a series of modules designed to help users learn about the world of statistics. As their site suggests, the modules will help users become more knowledgeable about surveys and scientific experiments. Users will want to look at the short explanations concerning the purpose of these modules and statistics in general before getting started. Currently, the site offers three modules: "Producing Data"; "Describing, Clarifying and Presenting Data"; and, "Interpreting Data". In each module, visitors will be presented with detailed explanations of these different aspects of statistics in a language that is quite accessible. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Monday, February 2, 2009

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Auschwitz Through the Lens of the SS[ http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/ssalbum/] - In January 2007, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received a very unique and important donation. The donation came in the form of a photo album inscribed "Auschwitz 21.6.1944". To be sure, it was an unusual item, as there are few wartime photographs of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex. Museum archivists determined that the album's owner was almost certainly SS-Obersturmfuhrer Karl Hocker. The album contains photographs of Hocker with other SS officers in the summer and fall of 1944 and taken together they provide scholars and others with a new understanding of their lives and activities in the camp. Recently, the Museum decided to digitize the album and place it online here for the public. On the site visitors can read a series of interpretive essays about the album, view a documentary about the album, and also look through the album in its entirety. Overall, it's an utterly fascinating and troubling document, and one that will be appreciated by a wide range of people interested in the Holocaust, cultural studies, and history in general. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Sacred Contexts [ http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/sacred/homepage.html] - Helping understand the shared traditions among the world's major religious traditions is a tall order for a website, but this lovely online gallery from the British Library does the job quite admirably. The site was designed to complement a recent exhibition at the Library, and visitors can start by viewing an interactive slideshow of those materials. Moving on, visitors will want to make their way through 78 various sacred texts, which include the Codex Sinaiticus, an Islamic marriage contract, and the Tyndale New Testament. The "Interactive" section of the site is delightful, and visitors can listen to different faith leaders and everyday citizens talk about their religious beliefs. The site is rounded out by a selection of videos that feature weddings in three faiths, an exploration of several sacred texts, and a scribe at work. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Visual Arts Data Service[http://www.vads.ac.uk/] - Online visual arts collections can be used to enhance an art history lecture, give students a refresher on various types of architecture, and for community history projects. The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) offers up just those types of collections, and it's one that users will definitely want to bookmark for future reference. The VADS is based at the Farnham Campus of The University College for the Creative Arts and currently they have over 100,000 images available for use. First-time users may wish to get their feet wet by clicking on the "Search" tab on the left-hand side of the homepage. From this page, they can take a look at the "Image of the Day", browse through popular searches, and also browse the materials offered by theme. Clicking on the "Collections" section gives visitors a sense of the broad coverage offered on the site, as they will find links to digital archives of Romanesque sculpture, war posters, a massive photo archive of East London, and a diverse set of textile collections. Finally, the site also has a list of case studies and a guide to good practice for those who might be working on digital projects in art education. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Physics Education Technology[ http://phet-web.colorado.edu/new/index.php] - Funded by grants from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the National Science Foundation, the Physics Education Technology (PhET) site features many well-designed and engaging physics and chemistry simulations for use in the classroom. Currently, the site offers fifteen simulations, which cover projectile motion, salts & solubility, wave interference, and other related areas. Visitors can run the simulations from their computer, or they can also elect to download them individually. The simulations are all interactive, full of color, and very engaging. Of course, they have also provided a "Teachers Ideas & Activities" area. Here visitor can browse through activities created by educators across the country which are based on these simulations. Visitor can look over the activities by type or grade level, and they can also submit their own activities for inclusion. The site is rounded out by a list of FAQ's and a troubleshooting section. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Radiology Education[http://www.radiologyeducation.com/] - Created and maintained by Dr. Michael P. D'Alessandro, this site provides visitors with a host of links related to radiology education. The site is organized quite simply, as it consists of several hundred links vetted by Dr. Alessandro, all of which are related to radiology. At the top of the homepage, visitors will find the links organized into categories which include radiology textbooks, radiology teaching files, continuing education, and podcasts. The links are also organized for use by different groups of professionals, including medical students, residents, and patients. The anatomy and embryology atlases area is quite strong, as is the one dedicated to radiology textbooks. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

On March 25, 1807, Britain's Parliament passed an act which abolished the British slave trade. There was a great deal of public discussion and debate about the act, and this very nice online exhibit from the Parliamentary Archives explores some of the issues through primary documents and other records. The site is divided into six sections, which include "History", "Your Voice", "Explore", "Timeline", "Learning", and "Glossary". The "History" section is a great place to start, as it provides background on Britain's slave trade, the wider world of the international slave trade, and the economics behind slavery. Visitors must make a stop at the "Explore" area, where they will find poems by enslaved Africans and abolition supporters, along with various dramatizations of the slavery debate, and interactive explorations of objects related to the slave trade. Additionally, the "Learning" section contains an interactive studio for teachers who wish to create their own educational resources and a number of lesson plans and activities. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

The exhibition "Let Your Motto Be Resistance" consists of 100 photographic portraits of prominent African Americans. The portraits were selected from the collections of the National Portrait Gallery as part of the inaugural exhibition of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. The show will begin a national tour in October 2008. The web site is designed for browsing in chronological order, beginning with Frederick Douglass and ending with Wynton Marsalis. Short biographies, caption information, and larger views are available with each picture. The portraits include an airborne Judith Jameson, 1976, performing in Cry; a smiling Billie Holiday photographed in 1926; and Gordon Parks in 1945 with camera and light meter in hand. There are two portraits of Martin Luther King; he is shown with his wife and daughter in 1956, and in 1968, as three of his four children file past his coffin. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Exploring 20th Century London[http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk] - From the expansion of the Underground to the waves of new arrivals from the British colonies, London was greatly transformed through the 20th century. Recently, several London institutions, including the Museum of London, combed through their respective resources to create this interactive exhibit and archive that would tell visitors a bit about the city's evolution during those 100 years. The materials can be viewed through three sections: "Timeline", "Themes", and "Places". In the "Timeline" section, visitors can browse through featured objects and also learn about major events during the period. Moving on, the "Themes" area organizes the city's recent past into topical areas that focus on art and design, the built environment, ethnic communities, and leisure activities. The "Places" section features a clickable map of London's boroughs which reveals artifacts from each of these respective areas. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Science, Evolution, and Creationism[http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11876] - The National Academies Press published this 88 page volume in order to help answer the question "How did live evolve on Earth?" Drawing on a group of experts from a range of scientific fields, this work looks at the evidence for biological evolution, the nature of science, and creationist perspectives on evolution. Along the way, the book also offers examples of how the science of evolution can be used to prevent and treat human disease and also foster industrial innovation. The book has broad appeal, and it will be of great use to teachers, legislators, policy makers, and community leaders. Additionally, visitors can also listen to a podcast about the work and learn more about the persons responsible for the book. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Minority Health Archive[http://minority-health.pitt.edu/] - Created in collaboration with the Center for Minority Health and the University Library System at the University of Pittsburgh, the Minority Health Archive is an online archive of print and electronic media related to the health of African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. The archive contains over six hundred documents, including editorials, newspaper articles, research papers, fact sheets, course syllabi, and government publications. Visitors can browse the archive by subject or year, and there's also a "Latest Additions" section as well. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Exploring the Early Americas[http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/earlyamericas/] - The Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress contains over 3000 rare maps, documents, paintings, and other artifacts that span hundreds of years. Recently, the Library of Congress created this very engaging online exhibition in order to provide the general public with access to a selection of these documents. As the site notes, the collection "provides insight into indigenous cultures, the drama of the encounters between Native Americans and European explorers and settlers, and the pivotal changes caused by the meeting of the American and European worlds." The online materials are divided into three sections: "Pre-Contact America", "Explorations and Encounters", and "Aftermath of the Encounter". Some of the objects included throughout these sections include a Mayan jaguar sculpture and a hand-colored engraving detailing the route of Sir France Drake from the late 16th century. Finally, the "Interactives" area includes a complete version of the classic work "The Buccaneers of America" and the famed 1507 and 1516 world maps by Martin Waldseemüller. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/